Luke 23:17, the Passover custom that explains itself
Luke 23:17 is missing from some modern Bibles because Reading A has verse 16 join directly to the crowd’s cry, while Reading B adds the feast-release custom. The difference concerns whether Luke includes that explanation here.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Since revision 3.5, the places where the manuscripts disagree are decided before translation by three readers, Grok 4.3, GPT-6 Astra, and Claude Fable 5.1, who see the readings and the witnesses by age and class but never a reference or a manuscript name. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
Luke 23:17: set in brackets as a disputed passage, wording kept.
“The base text reads ἀπολύσω. The copies also carry 17 Ἀνάγκην δέ εἶχεν ἀπολύειν αὐτοῖς κατὰ ἑορτὴν ἕνα. [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The external evidence strongly favors ἀπολύσω, and the longer 17 Ἀνάγκην δέ εἶχεν ἀπολύειν αὐτοῖς κατὰ ἑορτὴν ἕνα. is best explained as a secondary addition.”
“This passage is not in the earliest copies of the text. The committee judged it a later addition and keeps it in brackets rather than removing it. The external evidence and the tendency toward explanatory expansion both favor absence.”
“Included from the Faithlife/SBLGNT apparatus at Luke 23:16 as a traditional verse addition. Witnesses: RP.”
The committee’s APB 3.5 decision set Luke 23:17 in brackets as a disputed passage while keeping its wording. Its Luke 23:17 note says, “This passage is not in the earliest copies of the text. The committee judged it a later addition and keeps it in brackets rather than removing it.” The committee record labels the item “Textual supplement: Luke 23:17” and records an audit verdict for the pericope of clean. The three readers worked blind to reference, book name, and manuscript name.
The argument for each reading
If borrowed from Mark
Reading A leaves no stated release custom between the promise of release in Luke 23:16 and the crowd’s cry. Westcott-Hort (1881) reads ἀπολύσω, with verse 16 joining directly to verse 18. The apparatus likewise places ἀπολύσω with WH, Treg, and NA28, then records the longer verse as an addition marked with RP. The supplied difference statement says that Mark and Matthew explain the Barabbas custom, while Luke receives the explanation only in later manuscripts. On this account, the immediate scene remains intact without a separate statement of the custom, and the explanatory wording may reflect material familiar from those accounts.
If Luke wrote it
Reading B supplies an explicit reason for a release at the feast: Ἀνάγκην δέ εἶχεν ἀπολύειν αὐτοῖς κατὰ ἑορτὴν ἕνα. Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform (2005) prints this wording as verse 17, and its witness description says that the Byzantine text includes the explanation. The sentence makes the transition from the proposed release in verse 16 to the crowd’s demand more explicit. Since Mark and Matthew explain the Barabbas custom, the wording also presents Luke’s account with that explanation stated at this point. The packet notes that in some manuscripts the explanation appears after verse 19, so its placement is part of the question as well.
The remaining question is whether the feast-release explanation belonged here in Luke, and, if so, whether its position was after verse 16 or after verse 19 in some copies. The wording changes how explicitly the immediate scene explains the custom. It does not alter the crowd’s cry or the statement in Luke 23:16 that release was proposed. Broader conclusions about the Barabbas custom rest on the accounts named in the packet as well as this verse.
Common questions
Why do some Bibles omit Luke 23:17?
They follow Reading A, in which Luke 23:16 joins directly to verse 18. Other editions follow Reading B and print the feast-release explanation as verse 17.
What does Luke 23:17 say?
Reading B says: Ἀνάγκην δέ εἶχεν ἀπολύειν αὐτοῖς κατὰ ἑορτὴν ἕνα. It explains an obligation to release one person at the feast.
Why is Luke 23:17 in brackets in the APB?
The committee kept the wording but treated it as disputed. Its note says, “This passage is not in the earliest copies of the text. The committee judged it a later addition and keeps it in brackets rather than removing it.”
Related entries
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. The page does not declare which reading is original.
The registry gives no verdict
The registry does not say which reading is original. Each page lists the witnesses, shows what the committee did with the same text, and leaves the judgment to the reader.